PROVO -- Former BYU women's volleyball and track star Lindsey Metcalf has been named the Utah state Woman of the Year by the NCAA in the organization's 15th annual national Woman of the Year campaign.
A six-time All-American high-jumper, Metcalf also excelled on the volleyball court for the Cougars, earning All-Mountain West Conference honors as a rightside hitter her senior season. She was also twice-named CoSIDA Academic All-District and was the MWC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2005.
"I'm thrilled to win this award, just so excited," said Metcalf. "The organizers said they were going to announce the winners in Aguust and when I didn't hear anything for most of the month, I figured I didn't win and was pretty disappointed. Then, at the very end, I got an e-mail with the news. I was shaking. It's such a great honor. I'm very excited."
The NCAA Woman of the Year recognizes outstanding female student-athletes who have excelled in academics, athletics and community leadership. Chosen by a committee of representatives from member institutions, 29 of the 2005 state honorees are from Division I, while 16 represent Division II and six are from Division III. They represent 15 sports.
The committee of institutional representatives also will select 10 finalists from the 51 state winners, based on grade-point average, athletics achievement and community service. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will chose the national winner from among the 10 finalists. Finalists will be revealed in the September 26 issue of The NCAA News.
The 2005 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced during the annual awards dinner October 29 in Indianapolis. ESPN personality Danielle Sargent and Kara Lawson, former University of Tennessee, Knoxville, women's basketball standout and a 2003 Woman of the Year top-10 finalist currently playing in the WNBA, will serve as emcees for the evening.
As part of the Woman of the Year weekend of activities, honorees will be working with youth and the Association's character-building program Stay in Bounds at the NCAA Hall of Champions.
This year's state winners were chosen from a pool of 352 nominations, 76 more than in 2004 and the most since 2000, when there also were 352 candidates for the honor. The pool showed an increase in diversity as well, specifically in African-American, international, Asian/Pacific Islander and Latina/Hispanic student-athletes.
Division I submitted 188 applications. Fifty-six nominations came from Division II and 111 were received from Division III. The numbers represent increases in submissions for all three divisions over last year, with Division I submitting 50 more applications and Divisions II and III registering more modest gains at 14 and 15, respectively.